Naifeh questions proposed changes to TRA board
If it ain’t broke, why fix it?
That question recently came from House Speaker Emeritus Jimmy Naifeh concerning Gov. Bill Haslam’s proposal to change the Tennessee Regulatory Authority’s board from four full-time members to five part-time members with a full-time executive director.
“We have questions as to why (change the board) as well,” TRA Chairman Kenneth Hill of Blountville said of the proposal to Naifeh and other members of the House Finance Committee last Wednesday.
Haslam, a Republican, stressed full-time TRA board members are political appointees making $150,000 each, and he noted a part-time board with a professional executive director would be more efficient.
TRA is charged with setting the rates and service standards of privately owned telephone, natural gas, electric and water utilities.
“We have been working hard, ...” Hill told Naifeh. “I have striven as well as the other directors to educate myself. ... We attend workshops, and we do webinars all the time. We’re always trying to stay on top of the issues. We do believe we need to continue to modernize so we can do better, but we’re quite happy with the progress that has been made. We’re not going to stand still. We’re going to keep working toward the future, but your question is well-taken and I don’t have an answer.”
Naifeh, D-Covington, responded: “I think your answer is you all are operating well and things are going well, and why change it?”
Hill, the father of Jonesborough GOP state Rep. Matthew Hill, took over as TRA chairman last fall following the resignation of longtime board member Eddie Roberson.
Four directors, named to six- and three-year terms, currently constitute TRA’s leadership. Hill was appointed by Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, R-Blountville. Haslam has one appointment, the House speaker has one, and there is a joint appointee of the governor, lieutenant governor and House speaker.
Shipley’s crime bills
State Rep. Tony Shipley, R-Kingsport, has advanced one of his two crime bills.
Shipley’s legislation creating felony offenses for concealing illegal immigrants moved forward out of a House Judiciary Subcommittee on Wednesday.
He said the bill would address “human trafficking” — people being transported for sex or slavery.
“This is a human issue. I’m trying to address a human concern,” Shipley told the subcommittee.
His other bill, called the “Caylee Anthony Act,” was deferred by the same House Judiciary Subcommittee until next week.
That bill, named for the Florida 2-year-old whose remains were found in a wooded area near her home in 2008, would create a felony if a parent failed “to make all reasonable efforts” to report a missing child within 24 hours.
Under present law, whenever a parent knows, learns or believes their child is missing, the parent must report the child to law enforcement.
“What we’re doing is creating a felony in the same circumstances we saw played out before us on TV. ... If a parent fails to go beyond 24 hours and they should have known and had a reasonable responsibility to notify and didn’t ... it makes it a felony,” Shipley told the panel.
But the legislation was deferred after one lawmaker called for a more specific definition of a missing child in the bill.
Other bill filings
•Bungee jumpers, be advised: State Rep. Kent Williams, an Elizabethton independent and former House speaker, has filed what he calls a “traffic safety” bill to prohibit people from jumping off bridges 20 feet high or more above a roadway. Williams’ bill would punish the jumpers with a misdemeanor offense and a fine not to exceed $50. State Sen. Rusty Crowe, R-Johnson City, is the bill’s Senate sponsor.
•State Rep. Jon Lundberg, R-Bristol, wants to develop a funding mechanism for indigents getting legal representation. He has filed a bill that would authorize the Sullivan County Commission, by a two-thirds vote, to levy a $25 privilege tax in all civil and criminal cases. The money would be used exclusively to pay lawyers for indigent criminal defendants.
•State Rep. Scotty Campbell, R-Mountain City, is a Johnson County 911 dispatcher who has filed a bill to punish people killing first responders in the line of duty. His legislation calls for a motorist convicted of killing two or more first responders either at or going to a medical emergency to serve consecutive jail sentences.
•State Rep. Matthew Hill, R-Jonesborough, has re-filed pro-life legislation — with his bill called the “Life Defense Act of 2012.”
Hill’s bill would prohibit physicians from performing an abortion unless they have hospital admitting privileges. The bill also calls for abortions to be reported to the Tennessee Department of Health.
•Legislation filed by state Sen. Mike Faulk, R-Church Hill, to dissolve the Court of the Judiciary and create a new Board of Judicial Conduct has advanced out of the Senate Government Operations Committee. In the bill, to be considered next by the Senate Judiciary Committee, Faulk says he is attempting to address the criticisms against the current board.
Under Faulk’s bill, the Board of Judicial Conduct would have the same functions as the Court of the Judiciary but different membership, including 10 judges. His bill also changes the burden of proof to investigate a judge to “probable cause” that misconduct occurred instead of “substantial likelihood” that it did and revises other provisions regarding complaints against judges.
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